The present invention relates generally to the field of scanners and more particularly to method for using a scanner as an overhead projector or as an input device for a telecommunications system linking multiple remote participants.
Today, many communication conferencing systems are clumsy or quite expensive, such as cameras. It would be desirable to be able to utilize a scanner as a virtual white board or an input device of a communication system linking remote multiple participants via known data transmissions means, such as facsimile machines, telephones or through an Intranet or Internet.
The above and other aspects of the present invention are accomplished in a system and method for using a scanner as an input device of a communications system linking multiple remote participants across an Intranet or Internet in which a user writes directly onto the scanner""s platen or on a clear plastic transparency on the scanner""s platen with dry erase markers in the same manner a user would write on an overhead projector or a whiteboard. The scanner would then perform the scan and mirror the image from left to right and transmit an electronic signal representative of the scanned image. This could be a means of communication linking multiple remote participants or posted on a web page to be viewed by any of the participants. This could be transmitted via facsimile machine or other known data transmissions.